Scumbag 'Guinea Pig's' family skip inquest

GANGLAND figure Mark ‘Guinea Pig’ Desmond died of multiple gunshot wounds, an inquest into his death has heard.

No family were present at Dublin Coroner’s Court where an inquest into Mr Desmond’s death was opened and adjourned.

No address was given for the 41-year-old criminal who was gunned down at Griffeen Valley Park in Lucan on November 2, 2016.

Desmond was a key player in Dublin’s underworld and suspected of murdering two young men, Patrick Murray and Darren Carey, and dumping their bodies in the Grand Canal in 2000.

He was charged with the killings, but the Director of Public Prosecutions later dropped the charges after a witness retracted her statement.

Desmond was also questioned in 2002 about the alleged rape of a 15-year-old boy.

Detective Garda Colm Lawlor of the fingerprint section of the Garda Technical Bureau gave evidence of identification using fingerprint technology.

He told the court that he gathered evidence at a scene at Griffeen Valley Park on December 3, 2016.

The following day he retrieved a matching set of fingerprints in a garda file belonging to a man named Mark Desmond and taken 16 years previously at Mountjoy Prison.

“On December 4 2016 at the fingerprint section, Garda Headquarters I retrieved a set of finger and palm prints bearing the name Mark Desmond, of 100 Lally Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10 taken on May 18th 2000 at Mountjoy Prison,” Det Lawlor said.

Det Lawlor said he compared the fingerprint impressions taken from the deceased at Griffeen Valley Park to fingerprints on file and made a positive identification.

A post-mortem performed by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis gave the cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds.

Detective Inspector Sean Campbell told Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane that the man’s death is still under investigation and he applied for an adjournment under Section 25.1 of the Coroner’s Act.

The coroner adjourned the inquest for further mention on November 23, 2017.